Joseph Scheich 1960 - 2003
42-year-old Scheich died at his home in Amsterdam in January after a long and valiant battle against HIV and Aids . Originally from Michigan in the USA, Joseph was educated at the prestigious Ann Arbor University in Classical Literature before going on to do a Masters in Public Administration at New York University. After working as a city official in New York, he worked for the United Nations and for the World Health Organisation before taking up a post for the UN in Rome for the International Fund for Agricultural Development. In 1995 when his health began to fail, Joseph moved to the Netherlands. In 1998 he became International Co-ordinator of the Global Network of People Living with HIV and Aids (GNP+). As chair of the International Conference of Positive People in Warsaw in 1999, his charm, intelligence, humour, integrity and obvious skills became more widely known to HIV positive people across the world. In 2001, he went on to manage and invigorate the Stop Aids Now Foundation and the Dutch Aids Foundation, and worked tirelessly on projects for international access to HIV treatments and the early development of the Global Aids Fund. What was remarkable to most people who came into contact with Joseph was not just his dynamism but more importantly his caring nature and obvious concern for others. Joseph will be remembered as much for his love and laughter as for the prolific work he did on behalf of all HIV positive people around the world. |
Debate is raging whether US President George W. Bush's new Aids plan is real or merely a public relations exercise.
Bush announced in his 'State of the Union' address to both Houses of Congress at the end of January that the US would give $15 billion over the next five years, including nearly $10 billion in new money, to turn the tide against Aids in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean.
Using lofty prose, Bush said: "Seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many."
Initially hailed as a major breakthrough by political allies and foes alike the motives behind the Bush plan are now being questioned more closely.
The UN's special envoy for Aids, Stephen Lewis, praised the presidential announcement as a "dramatic signal" that the US was ready to join the global fight against Aids.
"It transforms the response. It opens the floodgates of hope."
Bono, the Irish pop star and campaigner for Aids in Africa, joined in the initial praise, calling the Bush plan, "a breakthrough... and a real shift for a conservative administration."
But there is now concern whether the Bush plan would divert funds needed urgently by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria. And the question also being raised is whether the Bush plan is a shrewd attempt to circumvent and destroy the Global Fund.
Even though the Fund has given out near $900 million to Aids projects around the world so far and is committed to give a further $600 million this year, the fund will run out of money by next year unless promised donations are forthcoming very soon.
"We have a problem", said Anil Soni, a top Global Fund official: "We need to get new dollars in so we can continue to fund programmes."
The Fund says it needs an additional $6.3 billion over the next two years and observers are beginning to wonder whether it will be able to survive in the long term.
Even more intriguing is the move to appoint Bush's Health Secretary Tommy Thompson as the new chairman of the board of the Fund.
"If the US is going to buy the chairmanship, they could at least use real money," said Asia Russell of US Aids lobby group Health GAP.
Other more cynical observers have accused Bush of trying to buy votes in the UN to gain more support for the war against Iraq.
Activists have questioned whether the new money will go to abstinence only programmes and others have asked why Bush is offering so much money abroad while federal funding for many anti-HIV drug programmes for poor people at home has recently been withdrawn.
WHO appoints a new head
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The partners of the Accelerating Access Initiative (AAI) met in London in January to brief journalists on their progress. This scheme is a partnership between the drug companies and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help make effective HIV/Aids treatment more available to the millions of infected people worldwide.
There is currently an unacceptable gap between those who need care and those who actually have access to antiretrovirals. There are seven million people with Aids-related illnesses worldwide who are unable to get any kind of anti-HIV medication, and a further 35 million infected with HIV.
"We feel that the initiative has been running for sufficient time to be able to share some of the early but impressive results," said Jeff Richardson, executive director of Step Forward.
But by March 2002 it was estimated that the six multinational drug companies have cobbled together treatment for only 35,500 people in Africa.
The pharmaceutical companies involved - Abbot, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche and Merck and Co - all now supply various antiretrovirals at not-for-profit prices.
But the AAI concedes: "Despite the major reductions in anti-retroviral prices, the annual cost of ARV treatment for a person living with HIV still exceeds the annual per capita gross domestic product of many least developed countries."
The AAI's approach was questioned at the meeting. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, said: "The WHO's collaboration with industry on the AAI programme has served as a cover for its frequent acceptance of industry arguments for restricting treatment access."
Nathan Ford, from Médecins Sans Frontières, said: "By embracing the narrow and burdensome discount policy offered by the multinational drug companies, the WHO has effectively supported the private sector in maintaining control over an agenda they have never seriously striven to meet."
It is clear that the initiative - in order to meet the WHO's target of 3 million on treatment by 2005 - will have to step up a gear and find significantly more resources.
Laurence Gibson
Herb Ritts dies at 50
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It
is with sadness that we announce the death of the Aids activist Joseph Scheich.
The
World Health Organisation (WHO) has appointed Jong Wook Lee (pictured), a South
Korean public health expert, as its new director general. 57-year-old Lee has
worked within the WHO for 19 years, heading the organisation's Stop TB programme
and Global Programme on Vaccines. Upon his appointment, he said he will give special
attention to battling HIV and Aids and strengthening relationships with the Global
Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria. In a closely fought contest, Lee edged out
Peter Piot, the Belgian head of UNAIDS, by 17 votes to 15. He replaces the former
Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, who steps down in July after five
years as head of the WHO.
Herb
Ritts, the world famous fashion and celebrity photographer, has died from what
the New York Times euphemistically called 'complications from pneumonia' and the
gay Washington Blade and the Advocate openly state was Aids. Ritts, who was 50
and lived an openly gay lifestyle, revolutionised much in photography with a homoerotic
glorification of the male body. His photographic style of celebrity icons was
copied throughout the fashion and advertising world by many others but rarely
surpassed.